As The Crow Is Spared, So Dies A Dove
by Aero'Phoenix
Summary: After a chain of events causes both Masquerade and Hydranoid to have a change of heart, the Darkus duo decide to secretly join the Brawlers on their quest to defeat Naga. But when trust is put into question, is it something the Masked Phantom could truly gain?
1. Prologue

**Author's Note: **As to avoid deterring from the prologue with one of my infamous rants, I'll only say that you read the second note at the end of the chapter as it is very important.

**Disclaimer: **I (Aero'Phoenix) do not own Bakugan, this story was made for fun, not profit.

**As The Crow Is Spared, So Dies A Dove**

**By: **Aero'Phoenix

For the Crow to be spared...

A Dove must die...

**Chapter 1- Contemplation... With A Little Bit of Love from the French**

It was hard sometimes...

Adjusting to the way life had turned out for her, Alice would sometimes just stare into the distance. It was her way of remembering what she stood for, what the Brawlers stood for.

It really didn't help much that she was away from Russia, the snow there always seeming to be able to make her forget about the sorrow and loneliness of her home. It still amazed her from time to time on how no one seemed to realise just how much...

She really missed her Grandfather...

"Oh Alice, I just wish that Dan and Shun would stop arguing already!" murmured a blue-haired girl irritably, she sighed and then rested her head into the palms of her hands. After a short while, she looked up whilst turning her head to Alice. "I mean we're all friends here right? So why should we b- Alice?"

Said girl had been staring into the distance in front of her, a very uncharacteristically empty expression adorning her face. The red headed Russian didn't seem to notice the girl next to her lingering gaze as her brown eyes remained unfocused.

"Hey Alice? Anyone in there?" asked Runo as she waved her hand in front of the other girl's face, her brows furrowing in slight worry.

Alice flinched back, slightly surprised, her eyes snapping back into focus as she turned to Runo. A sheepish expression making its way onto her face as she closed her eyes apprehensively, "I'm sorry Runo, what were you saying?"

Runo sighed in relief, chuckling a little to ease the tension as she spoke, "Oh its nothing, it's just you're usually so focused. I suppose I've come to thinking that's the way you always are."

Alice smiled, if only she could actually be as strong as they seem to think she is.

"It's alright Runo, I've just been feeling a little tired lately."She suddenly found herself dropping her head as she then slightly coughed into her elbow. Runo's eyes widened as her expression quickly morphed into one of worry for her teammate's condition.

The blunette reached out to rest her hand on Alice's shoulder in show of her concern, "Maybe you should go into our room and take a nap..."

She then gestured towards Dan and Shun, animated sparks flying between their glaring irises as it looked like the long time best friends/rivals were preparing for another all out brawl that would most likely end in both tearing each other apart, "I doubt you'll be missing much..." said the Haos Brawler wearily.

Alice coughed into her hand as she lifted her head, her eyes full of untold gratitude. "Thank you Runo, I'll go do that."

She paused for a moment to look around her, taking in the her surroundings for the very first time since her space out, she took note of the luxurious plush couch she was sittied on alongside Runo inside of Marucho's quite expensive aircraft.

She then took to noticing the heated argument between the team's two most talented brawlers as well as Marucho, who was sittied on a couch not too far from hers, worried expression. Julie, who was beside him, was too busy chatting to her long time friend Billy on her Baku Pod to even care.

Alice sighed, a weak smile on her face at the strange team dynamic the Brawlers had whilst asking herself as to how it is that they were able to get this far. Seeing as there would probably be no answer to such a question, she decided to then get up to her feet and hurriedly walk past the two shouting boys as she spotted the door that led to the bedroom the three girls' had been generously given to share.

She walked in and closed the door before locking it as to make sure no one disturbed her long overdue rest. She leaned against the door tiredly, exhaustion from the flu getting to her as she closed her eyes.

A large pulse from her heartbeat reached her ears, causing her eyes to snap open as that empty expression once again took form into her irises as her arms fell limply to her sides. She found herself reaching down into the inside of her coat, and pulled out a mysterious glass mask that seemed to appear out of nowhere as she slid it onto her face.

In a bright, nearly blinding flash of light, her orange hair rose and changed into a spiky upward spiralled pattern whilst its hair colour had changed to that of a rich blond. Her normal attire was replaced with that of a white, short sleeved trench coat that reached below the ankles of fitted purple trousers and black boots.

The genetic altering transformation had only taken a few seconds, and now where Alice Gehabich had been standing, stood the Number One ranked Bakugan player,

Masquerade...

His ears perked to the sound of rustling as he turned his head towards the double queen sized beds. At the foot of the one farthest to the right, an indistinct figure burst out of the tan purse it had been hidden in. Rolling closer towards the Darkus Brawler, it revealed to be a black ball with purple strips and markings across its form before popping open.

"Ugh, you have no idea how stuffy it is in there Master." Grumbled the Bakugan bitterly, Masquerade reached down and picked him up before swiftly placing him on his shoulder.

"I hope to get a change in scenery too Hydranoid, but for now Lord Naga wants us to send more Bakugan to the Doom Dimension as soon as possible, this way I won't have to make a trip back to the mansion." Hydranoid grunted and turned his little form away from his side.

"Fine I see your point," He turned back around, seeming curious about something, "Though I am surprised that you managed to slip away so soon Master, won't the brawlers miss their friend?"

Masquerade smirked at the question, pulling out a black card from his pocket and held it up to his face. "Not likely, see the one good thing that came from this confounded flu Alice caught, was that it gave us reason to.. disappear for a while." Hydronoid nodded in understanding.

"But aren't you worried that this 'flu' might affect you during battles?" Masquerade looked as if he had just been insulted, opening his mouth to retort before suddenly sneezing. Hydranoid gave his master an accusing glare, "See! Perhaps it would be better to rest and recover from this cold!"

"And have Hal-G get on my back about it? If it weren't for me having Alice as my host, he'd have me and you brawling around the world 24/7." Masquerade finished begrudgingly as he was caught off guard with another sneeze, he gritted his teeth in frustration. "Besides other than that, I'm fine."

"Fine, if you say so Master, but where shall we be heading to crush some pathetic battlers?" asked the powerful Darkus Bakugan, growing excited at the prospect of battle. Masquerade straightened up and smirked darkly.

"I was hoping you'd ask, how do you feel about taking a detour to Paris?"

**. . .**

"So... this is Paris?" asked Hydranoid curiously as he gazed down at the scenery that was below them.

He hopped down from Masquerade's shoulder onto the silver-plated railing in front of him. He gradually turned around, taking time to take in his vast change of surroundings. "Hmph, nice enough place... Do you think that when Lord Naga conquers Vestroia and Earth that he'll let take Paris?"

Masquerade chuckled whilst not looking at his fellow partner, preferring to gaze into the city of love as they called it.

Resting his hands on the railing, Masquerade muttered in a dazed tone, "I don't know... I've sorta set my hea- soul... on taking Wardington." Hydranoid snickered, but only for a moment, on his Master's slip of tongue as he too, continued to sweep his gaze over the city.

A silence passed over them yet instead of feeling an awkward sort of tension between them, it turned out to be comfortable. Both finding no words needed to be spoken or so Masquerade thought at least...

"Masquerade?"

"Hmm?" He mumbled in slight attention.

Hydranoid gazed at him, his tone questioning, "This thing, we're standing on, what's it called again?"

Masquerade sighed in mock superiority and released his grip on the railing. He scooped up Hydranoid and placed him on his shoulder. "Come on, we have so many battlers to conquer and so little time to do it."

"You didn't answer my question." Hydranoid deadpanned.

"..." The Darkus Brawler kept silent, inwardly cursing himself for not being able to remember such an insignificant detail.

"You don't know what it's called do you?" asked Hydranoid, almost sounding amused.

"I do so! I think it was..." He made a last attempt at piecing the words together, annoyance showing on his facial features as he barely recalled the first letter of the word, noting that it started with an e, wait, eureka! "The Eiffel Tower?" He finished off the last bit curiously before shrugging it off.

"It doesn't matter, let's go." commanded Masquerade with finality, shortly after, the two disappeared in a mystical rain of sparkling light.

**. . .**

The day went by pretty quickly for the two, although the two had a rather difficult time throughout as sometimes trying to comprehend what the French kids were trying to say was getting to his nerve and that never ended well for anyone.

They crushed them all as, as expected, yet to Masquerade's disappointment however none of them had seem to be able to provide a Bakugan that could offer his Hydranoid any form of challenge.

They were just some more useless small fry...

Masquerade sighed dejectedly as the battlefield closed on yet another crushingly swift defeat for his rather unfortunate opponent.

"Non!" The little black-haired boy wailed, dropping to his knees, his fingers digging into the grass as the turmoil at losing his Bakugan was only now starting to set in. "Mes Bakugan!"

He lifted his head to glare daggers fiercely at Masquerade, "Toi! Tu est tres mechant!"

As the boy continued to babble in that annoying French language of his, Masquerade glanced at Hydranoid whilst folding his arms across his chest and sneered at the little boy. "I don't understand a word you're saying kid nor do I actual care."

The boy's head snapped up in shock, being nearly on the verge of tears, as he couldn't comprehend on how the Darkus Brawler was able to seem so calm and guilt free at what he'd just done. Masquerade noticed the boy's gaze and did something the French kid hadn't expected...

He smirked.

"Later ,loser" spoke Masquerade tauntingly as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a Warping Gate card.

Something had clicked inside the young boy's head as he watched a portal open behind the mask Brawler, his Rubanoid had meant a lot to him, and having had to watch helplessly as his beloved Bakugan drift into what was considered eternal oblivion, had finally caused him to snap.

The boy narrowed his eyes menacingly as his hands ballied into fists before shaking dangerously. In the next moment, whether it was impulse that reacted or not, he found himself breaking the short distance between them in a remarkable span of time as he tackled the Darkus Brawler roughly whilst letting out an enraged war cry.

Masquerade gasped momentarily as the force from the tackle had knocked the air out of his lungs before stumbling backwards and unexpectedly into the portal as the Warping Gate card had already been activated and in a flash of darkened indigo...

They both were gone.

**. . .**

Back on Marucho's private aircraft...

Things had finally settled down, well if you counted making both Shun and Dan sit in two chairs on opposite sides of the room settling down...

While both were at far ends of the living room, that didn't stop the rivals from shooting icy stone cold glares at each other from across the room. The intensity was so great that if it weren't for the stubborn resolve both individuals had, then we would've been able to flinch by now.

The other three Brawlers at present, tried desperately to ease the ongoing tension between the two.

"Ugh! This is like totally pointless!" groaned a or less weary Julie, as she threw her arms up and leaned back against the couch cushions, "How are we going to find the Infinity Core if our two best Brawlers won't even stop fighting?"

Besides her, the small blond-haired boy with glasses nodded his head in agreement, "I concur; we should be focusing on how we plan to deal with Masquerade, while at the same time work on finding the ever evasive Infinity Core."

The blunette on the side turned to them, "That's easy for you to say Marucho," her eyes narrowed in distaste as the sarcasm dripped from her voice, "Trying to get those two to get along is like trying to stop the sun from shining, it's impossible! Argh!"

She reached up and yanked at her pigtails, finding the action to be the only thing left to do to calm down the massive amounts of rage boiling inside of her. On the wooden coffee table in front of them, a small white Bakugan rolled over to Runo before popping open.

"Milady, perhaps we should ask Alice to help." Runo released her pigtails and looked down at Tigerra with a blank look, the Bakugan caught on quickly to her partner's confusion and deliberated, and "I mean coming to a peaceful agreement does seem to be well within her uh, forte Milady."

"Yeah, I agree with Tigerra. Alice always knows how to make things better!" beamed Julie as she quickly got to her feet as she prepared to dash over to the girls' room when Runo stood up in front of her with a resolved look on her features.

"Hey, what's the big idea Runo?" asked Julie irritably, not being able to understand why the Haos Brawler was in front of her, as she placed her hands on her hips. "Don't you want to solve this problem as quickly as possible?"

Runo shook her head fiercely, her eyes visibly softened in concern, "No, we should try to solve this feud without disturbing Alice, she looked like she was coming down with something really nasty, besides it's not like she ever lets herself rest anyways..."

Julie opened her mouth to speak but closed it abruptly at the concern showing in Runo's eyes. Her eyes softened as well as she nodded in agreement, "Okay..."

**. . .**

Masquerade grunted at the slight sting that came from landing on his back so hard whilst still having the annoyance for a little boy grip at his waist tightly. He scowled as lashed out with a vicious kick, successfully throwing the boy off of him, "Get off me!"

He snarled as he stood up, glaring daggers at the little boy, He stalked over menacingly, his lips set in a grim frown that caused the young French lad to cower in fear for his life.

"Je suis desole! Pl-please don't hurt me..."

Masquerade halted in front of him and roughly picked him up by his collar, causing the boy to cringe as he looked into his reflection from the glass mask, noticing how fear stricken he actually looked.

"Name one good reason why I shouldn't?" questioned the Darkus Brawler darkly as he kept his voice dangerously calm whilst refraining from snarling yet again at the problematic child. "You screwed up my teleportation and caused me enough trouble."

Masquerade glanced to the side and took note of the small pond besides them, he turned back to look at the boy, a cold smirk making its way onto his features, "I sure hope you can swim."

The boy's eyes widened at the last second before Maasquerade simply released his grip from the collar and turned to leave, not caring in the slightest as the water continuously splashed signifying the little boy's struggle to remain float.

He sneered as he strode forward but not before stopping to taunt the boy, "Maybe next time you'll be smart and not try to take on opponents that obviously way out of your league."

At that, he walked away, pulling out a black card from his pocket as he did before it flashed in that familiar bright glow and in the next second, Masquerade had vanished in a swirling drift of sparkles.

**. . .**

A bright light had temporarily illuminated the dark bedroom Alice shared with her two female comrades on Marucho's aircraft before disappearing to reveal a very worn out blond Battler. With a weary sigh, the blond stumbled to towards the bed before collapsing onto it with a thud as he turned to bury his face into a pillow.

"Ugh" He groaned tiredly into the pillowcase before turning around to face the ceiling. As he lifted a hand, he moved to place it on his aching cranium. After all that... he felt completely drained compared to earlier when he'd been fully re-vitalized, save for the flu. "Maybe Hydranoid was right about right taking up some rest."

Masquerade paused all of a sudden, he'd noticed that his Darkus Bakugan had been awfully quiet through the whole ordeal with the French kid, even now, Hydranoid didn't even seem to want to rip his head off at being caught off guard so easily...

"Hydranoid?" He muttered questioningly as he sat up, perched on the bed. He glanced around the darkened room ever so slowly as he made sure to check for any movement.

"Hydranoid?" He repeated, slowly rising from the bed as his alarms were going off at the prospect of losing his battle partner, "Hydranoid you'd better come out or God so help me I will-"

His voice trailed off in alarm as his eyes widened at the sound of footsteps approaching the bedroom door.

"Damn it!" Masquerade hissed as he quickly formulated a plan.

A light knock on the door echoed across the room, "Hey, Alice you awake in there?"

The doorknob slowly twisted, creaking as it did, to signify that the door could be opened.

It cracked opened a few moments later to reveal Julie picking out of it whilst raising a curious brow at the darkness before looking towards a bed, spotting a snoozing red head a few centimetres away from the door, fast asleep.

Giggling slightly to herself, she closed the door as silently as she could and then she went back to the to join the others on the recent board game they had to decided to play while the self proclaimed 'Greatest Brawler' and Number One 'Hot Shot', were able to cool things off.

**Author's Note:** For those of you who haven't already noticed, this is the adopted version of the Fic, 'For the crow to be spared, the dove must die' By JetravenEx. Now as you all know, Jetraven has, due to lack of inspiration, discontinued his story and held it up for adoption.

Now after coming to an agreement that I would be able to adopt such a great story, I have thus posted this on the conditions that I give him credit for the first three chapters of the story and that I have Masquerade join the Bakugan Battle Brawlers.

Now to avoid any controversy towards this Fic, I'd like to inform you guys on how Chapters 1-3 will be very similar to the story, changes and differences on appearing from chapters Four and onwards so I ask that you please be patient with me and this story as I know a lot of us (including me) will enjoy once again being able to read something so amazing.

Thoughts? Send in a review to tell me if it's up to standards or not, would really like to hear from you all.

Thanks for Reading


	2. The Girl Named Clara

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Bakugan. This was made for fun, not profit.

**. . .**

I wanna ride on swings all day

Eat chocolate flavoured ice cream

And at night, watch stars pop out of nowhere!

Why?

Cause I'm a kid!

**. . .**

**Chapter 2- The Girl Named Clara**

A dark indigo swirl began to form, thin strands of its energy slowly spreading outwards as the swirling energy took form and grew wider, finally taking shape as a portal opened from thin air.

A small sphere, coloured black with familiar purple streaks, dropped out from the dark energy and landed on a hard surface below before bouncing to a stop near a children's playground. It popped open to reveal a partly bewildered and mostly confused Hydranoid.

The Darkus Bakugan took to observing his new surroundings, in search for his partner Masquerade and to his horror...

His master's form was nowhere in sight.

"What! Where is Masquerade! Master?" He whirled around rather quickly, in hopes that his master would come out of nowhere and pick him up off the ground so they could leave.

But then it hit Hydranoid.

The annoying little raven haired French kid they'd demolished had gone and tried to tackle Masquerade whilst they were in the process of teleporting away.

He must've succeeded, Hydranoid mused, seeing as the force from the tackle must have knocked him off of Masquerade's shoulder and into another circuit of energy, thus resulting in them being warped to separate locations.

"Curse that child..." muttered the Darkus Bakugan bitterly.

A sudden rustling behind him made Hydranoid jump in alarm. Instinctively, the Darkus Bakugan closed up into a ball and hurriedly hopped into a bush for cover.

"Look at me mommy! I'm a tiger hunting my prey in the bushes!" cried a voice. Out of the bushes came a little girl who looked about 5-6 years old, who upon closer inspection, had a pair of friendly jay blue eyes, which shined with the innocence that only a child could carry.

She wore a white sleeve-less shirt and sky blue shorts topped off with a small, snug fit red baseball cap on her head. Her shoulder length black hair was pulled into a ponytail.

She got on all fours in an attempt to portray a tiger preparing to strike as she pretended to let out an animalistic roar.

"See mommy?" she asked, turning her head into the direction of a older black haired women, who was sitting on one of the benches just outside the boundaries of the playground. She looked up from the newspaper she'd been reading in over-exaggerated curiosity as she smiled at the little girl.

"That's really nice Clara," The woman's smile had faltered slightly as she spoke the next sentence, "but we'll be leaving in five minutes so don't go too far." The girl let out an exaggerated groan.

"But mommy I haven't found any prey yet!" cried the girl, pouting whilst making her eyes puffy in hopes of making her mother submit to her demands. Hearing no answer, she realised that her mother wasn't even paying attention, being that the woman was too absorbed with the paper in front of her to even notice her daughter's cries of dismay. "I wish I had someone to play with..."

Her voice trailed off as her eyes barely caught the sight of something dark beneath the bushes leafy green exterior. "Huh? What's that" She seemed to have wondered out loud as she walked over to the bush. Crouching down, she reached for the mysterious object.

Hydranoid could've sworn he felt he felt his breath catch in his non-existent lungs as he tried to remain as still as possible though his instincts were going off in alarm, screaming at him to flea away from the girl, in an attempt to scare off the little girl before him, he mustered up the most scariest of tones he could use in his ball form.

"Go away little girl! There is nothing interesting here! There aren't any Bakugan here so please move on." He failed to realise how he had inadvertedly sold himself out with that little statement at the end.

However, despite his mental urgings, the little girl continued to reach for him only to come short of grasping the Bakugan.

"Aww, come on, come to Clara." She stretched her fingers towards Hydranoid and finally, after a few attempts, brushed her fingers against him. With a triumphant smile, she managed to nudge him closer to the palm of her hand.

Hydranoid, much to his now unbridled shame, froze up in shock. His hesitation proved to be his downfall.

"Got'cha!" Clara cried triumphantly as she balled her small hand around the Darkus Bakugan's form. She lifted her self-proclaimed prize up to her face and her eyes widened in surprise.

"Oh wow! I think I just found a lost Bakugan!" She cried out, letting out a cry of happiness as she jumped to her feet , bouncing up and down excitedly at her discovery before suddenly doubling over and going into a coughing fit.

After a few seconds, she suddenly beamed, having recovered, and laughed as if nothing had transpired, "Hahaha oh so cool." She cupped her hands together and lifted the Bakugan closer to her face.

"Hey there little guy, Can you talk like the others I've heard of?" She poked at the Baugan innocently, with her pointer finger, waiting for a response.

Yet none came...

"Hmm maybe... Is there a button you have to press or something? " She flipped the Bakugan over and studied him franticly for a moment, trying to find an on button on Hydranoid's little form. "It doesn't look like it... Is it broken?"

She poked Hydranoid again, "Oh well that stinks. Maybe I should just throw it out..."

Hydranoid could've sworn that if he had a heart in his little plastic toy of a body, that it would have stopped...

Moving quickly, he struggled at the minor resistance to pop up as he proclaimed, "Wait human! Don't you dare treat me as if I am a mere toy!"

The girl's eyes widened briefly in shock, before suddenly beaming as she ran over to one of the picnic tables, where she set Hydranoid down. As soon as he was certain that he was resting on a solid platform, Hydranoid then took to popping open.

"Oh wow! You really can talk! That's so cool! What's your name ? I'm Clara and I'm this many years old." smiled Clara as she held up five of her right hand's fingers in front of Hydranoid.

The Darkus Bakugan scoffed in response.

"I am Darkus Hydranoid." He informed her, lifting his head a little higher as he proclaimed arrogantly, "I am the most powerful Bakugan there is!"

Clara stared at him for a moment before blinking blankly, her face suddenly erupting in glee as a huge smile worked its way onto her face. "That's really awesome Darkus Hydranoid!"

Said Bakugan stifled a groan, "Just 'Hydranoid' works fine."

Clara nodded her head, seeming to understand, "Okay, Hydranoid it is!"

"Clara!"

Suddenly the little girl stiffened, hearing a voice call her from the playground, Clara turned her head towards the direction of the voice, "It's time to go!"

"Coming!" called the girl back in response, she turned back around and hurriedly snatched Hydranoid off the picnic table and quickly shoved him into the pocket of her shorts. She then took off, running towards her mother. The woman stood, patiently waiting at the beginning of the path that would take them back to the spot where she'd parked the car, the paper she had been reading was tucked under her arm while gripping her purse with her right hand down by her side.

"Come on Clara!" she said as she pulled of her jacket back, only to glance at her watch as her facial expression morphed into one of worry, "Oh no! Clara, Come on."

As soon as the girl mentioned was close enough, the woman reached to grab the girl's small hand into her own, slightly hurting Clara unintentionally as she squeezed on it tightly. The two then began to hurry down up the path towards the car.

"Mommy what's the matter?" Clara asked, slightly wincing as they reached the parking lot. In her pocket, Hydranoid wriggled around a bit due to discomfort. After a few moments, he managed to poke his little toy head out of her pocket.

"We're going to be late for your appointment!" her mother more or less cried as she released her grip on Clara's hand. The two jogged over to the small black car, Clara's mother reaching into her purse in mid-jog and pulled out the car keys before using them to unlock the doors with the click of a button.

When she reached the car, she went for the door and opened the passenger side, then she went on to push the seat back so that her daughter could climb in. She moved out of the way and held the door open whilst Clara climbed into the back seat.

"Buckle up" Her mother told her as she then pushed the passenger seat back into place whilst clutching the seat belt, sliding it into the buckle with a click.

Just as her mother shut the door to the passenger side and rush over to the driver's side, Clara watched as her mother fumbled around a bit before finally getting the car keys into the ignition slot, twisting it to the side thus starting it. She reached over her shoulder and buckled herself in as well, safely stapling herself in.

"Clara."

Said girl looked down to notice that Hydranoid had slightly wriggled out of her pocket , all while her mother was pulling out the parking lot. Hydranoid floated up to her face, moving to the front of her face. He found himself curious about something that had been nagging at him all of sudden.

"Your mother... she mentioned something about an appointment, where are we going?" Clara's eyes flashed with something indistinct, but only for a moment before it disappeared. She didn't answer the question and then decided to turn away from Hydranoid's gaze, instead keeping her eyes fixed on things out the window. "Clara, why don't you answer me?"

Clara closed her eyes and inhaled as she prepared to speak, "I'm sorry Hydranoid, we're probably going to see Doctor O'Brien again."

She smiled a little, yet it was different compared to her normally bright and care free grins, instead this smile held something different...

Sadness perhaps?

"He's probably going to check to make sure my heart is doing okay..."

Hydranoid's tone shifted to that of confusion as he stared at Clara, "Why would have to do that? My master says that the heart is what allows a person to function, the same way a computer requires a power source to function. Without it, a person would cease to function."

Clara could only brighten at the Darkus Bakugan as she laughed, finding Hydranoid's interest in a conversation with her to be something good, "Was your master a doctor?"

"Hmm? No. He's a teenager..." An image of Masquerade's cold smirk in one of their recent battles came to mind. "And can be quite scary at times when he wants to be."

Clara laughed again, taking the Darkus Bakugan's description as a light-hearted joke. "Well, I dunno actually why we go to Doctor O'brien so often, maybe it's because my heart is very sick."

Suddenly, it all made sense to Hydranoid. If it weren't for the fact that he was in his ball form, he'd most likely be seen frowning right now.

"Oh... I see." Hydranoid couldn't help but feel something for the girl, an emotion he wasn't too often used to, seemed to have manifest inside of him.

While Hydranoid didn't understand much about humans in general, and considering that most of his knowledge on them came from the strange electronic device he'd come to know as TV. He did however remember watching this one show, which of course was a means for information on his part and not for entertainment of any sort as far as he was concerned, and recalled one of the characters in said show have their heart stop and then had to be buried six feet under due to ceasing to function.

Because they were... dead.

"Clara, who are you talking to?" asked her mother as she took a moment to glance back at the two voices she'd been hearing throughout the whole drive to the appointment. Shoe spotted Hydranoid and reluctantly held back a sigh. "A Bakugan? Clara honestly...Those things are worth more trouble than they are worth."

"But mommy! They are soooo awesome! Besides Hydranoid is the ultimate Bakugan! That's better than good!" Her mother mother sighed and turned back to watch the road.

Hydranoid glanced at the woman and then back to Clara, "What's her problem?" he questioned, trying his hardest to growl at the woman.

Clara shrugged her shoulders for longer that necessarily needed and settled more comfortably into her seat. "Well, ya see Hydranoid, my cousin Katie once had this reall cool Bakugan and they both were really close and all..." She averted her eyes from the Bakugan and instead stared blankly at the scenery outside.

"And?" pressed Hydranoid, growing curious at the sudden change in atmosphere, he moved a bit to catch Clara's eyes.

The girl sighed, "And well... This boy sent her Bakugan Chamelia away and then Katie just wasn't the same... Finally my uncle decided he'd try to make her happy again and he made her a new Bakugan and well... Then according to mommy it only led to more trouble." Clara sniffed a little before reaching out to snatch Hydranoid out of the air.

"Ack!" came the muffled out cry from the Bakugan. Clara ignored it and clasped him tightly, close to her chest as tears started cascading off her youthful face.

"Oh please Hydranoid! Promise me you won't ever do that to me! You-you're the ultimate Bakugan right? That means no one can make you disappear like Chamelia right?" Hydranoid fell silent at the little girl's cries, any and all needs for arguments had instantly extinguished themselves.

Hydranoid was a Bakugan, a proud one at that, that never really had a use for emotions other than anger and hate but seeing a young human girl shed tears for a Bakugan like him brought in a wave of strange, newfound emotions that wouldn't let him hurt this human much like the others he'd come across.

He didn't like dwelling on things strange to him and now was not the time to zone out when he had a little girl in front of him, begging for reassurance.

"I-I suppose I could stay..." Hydranoid began, Clara lifted him away from her chest, blinking away a few tears before looking at him with tear stained eyes.

"Oh thank you Hydranoid!" She cried out, smiling before breaking out in a fit of laughter happily, much to the relief of Hydranoid as she pulled him into a hug.

'But what about Masquerade?' a voice that seemingly popped out of nowhere asked Hydranoid, breaking him momentarily from his trance as he considered it for a moment. 'Master will find me soon enough, I can wait for him, until then I could try occupying myself with something else while I wait, like be with Clara...'

A part of him was disgusted with himself for being so sentimental but he pushed it aside for the time being.

'I'm only doing this because I have nothing else to occupy myself with whilst I wait for Masquerade to return and that's all there is to it!' thought the Darkus Bakugan firmly. Doubt still tugged at him within his mind yet the Bakugan quickly pushed the feeling away.

He instead closed up into a ball and settled in for a long needed nap.

**. . .**

***Hides behind a boulder***

**Author's Note: **Chapter Done! Sorry this came in so late, my phone's been giving me crap these past few weeks and that's probably why I haven't been able to review any of the stories I've either followed or favorite'd for awhile but rest assured that I will be active once again in due time!

***Looks around***

You guys wouldn't have happened to see Jet would you? I'm sure she's pissed... Well let me get out of here while I can, oh and remember to Read and Review!


	3. An Innocent's Illness

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Bakugan. If I did, I'd actual explain how Spectra got Helios his Darkus powers before ending the Freakin' SERIES!

**Back again with another instalment! Sorry this took so long, you know how life is. Anyway here's the Third Chapter enjoy!**

...

**Chapter 3- An Innocent's Illness**

"I hate this..." Masquerade whined.

It had been a week since Masquerade had discovered that he'd 'lost' his most experienced Bakugan, Hydranoid.

Said Brawler had remembered spending the past seven days trying to send Bakugan to the Doom Dimension without the help of his most powerful Bakugan whilst also figuring out where on earth that blasted overgrown dragon was so he could pound his face in. He would at the same time try to allow his host enough time to obtain the necessities to sustain life.

I mean, one could not accomplish things if one were to simply drop dead...

"This isn't worth the effort." Masquerade groaned as he flopped down onto the bed that was just one of the many within the luxurious rooms of Hal-G's Castle aka headquarters. At the moment, the Brawlers believed that his host, Alice, was currently fast asleep in the girls' shared room. It appeared that Alice's sickness provided him with an opportunity to slip by and get more time to be out and about whilst the Brawlers assumed Alice was getting some well needed rest.

Unfortunately, since he was being active instead of allowing himself to rest. The illness both him and his host shared was begining to take effect as it had started spreading faster throughout his body, proceeding to make things worse. To such an extent that Masquerade, to his chagrin, was becoming used to the constant headaches and migraines.

Masquerade buried his face into the pillow, "I swear to God! When I find Hydranoid... I'm going to pound that idiot and then dropkick him into the Doom Dimension!" His voice was loud yet somewhat muffled by the pillow. He nearly meant every word... nearly.

A distorted crystalline light flashed to Masquerade's right, not going unnoticed as the blond sighed in annoyance. He lifted his head from the soft pillow and glared at the intruder.

"What is it Hal-G?" Masquerade barked as he propped himself up with his elbow.

The mad scientist frowned, he'd never liked Masquerade's poor attitude towards him. "Master Naga wishes to speak with you Masquerade."

Said blond groaned. The illusive Hal-G jabbed his staff in his direction. "He says he's noticed something odd and wishes that it be corrected, so I suggest you go now unless of course you want to keep him waiting..."

"Whatever." Came the reply.

Masquerade pulled out his own Dimensional Transporter and disappeared in a flash of blinding light.

...

In an unknown region of dark space, a massive bone white entity was currently sealed within the Silent Core. It narrowed its eyes as a blond wearing a mask appeared before him.

"You summoned me Master Naga?" asked Masquerade which earned a slight growl from the dragon.

"I've noticed something that concerns me. According to Hal-G's report, for all the battles you've partaken in for the past week, you've yet to bring out your esteemed Darkus Hydranoid. " A foreboding came with the snarl Naga produced as he asked, "What is the meaning of this?"

Masquerade's jaw clenched as he seemed to fully realize what Naga had just asked. If he didn't know any better, that old fart Hal-G was out to get him. He contemplated on telling his master that Hydranoid was resting due to having taken out a highly dangerous Bakugan but decided against it as he'd need proof for that statement, proof which he didn't have.

His gaze dropped.

"I would if I could but unfortunately... Hydranoid has disappeared."

"Disappeared!" The Dragoniod snarled, "Why have you allowed such a thing to happen?"

Masquerade didn't speak at first, choosing rather to think up something intelligent to say in order to avoid the wrath of his Bakugan 'Lord'. "I wasn't given much choice. I had nothing to do with the unforeseen circumstances."

The image of a French kid that tackled him head on whilst he was entering the portal, flashed in his mind. He figured it was in his best interest to forget about that little runt but save the excuse for a time like now.

"Hmph."

Masquerade finally looked up to the sour scowl on Naga's face.

"Fine, I advise you to not allow this to prevent you from getting the Infinite Core and sending the goddamned Bakugan to the Doom Dimension, is that clear!" Masquerade winced at the intensity of his tone.

"Loud and clear," Masquerade replied dryly. 'Emphasis on the loud' he though bitterly.

"I find myself doubting those words, despite your work you have failed to bring me results!" Naga roared.

"If you're so worked up about it, why don't you go it yourself?" Masquerade muttered to himself.

"What was that boy!" Naga snarled, baring his teeth as he leaned forward. Masquerade found himself unconsciously taking a step forward.

"You seem to have forgotten your sole purpose and existence revolves around serving **me** and accomplishing the tasks I order you to do! You are only a spirit created from the negative energy of the Silent Core!" Masquerade's eyes widened behind his mask and felt his breath catch in his throat. "If you continue to fail to bring me results then perhaps I should just go and shove your weak excuse for a spirit into the body of a dying house cat!"

For a few moments, the two stood frozen in place by the heavy silence of void space. Naga's imposing figure leaning forward slightly towards Masquerade's awestruck and rigid stance.

Finally, Naga pulled his head back into the core and glared down at the boy. "Get out of my sight before I make good on my promise."

Masquerade said nothing in return, instead nodding slightly before disappearing in a flash of light.

...

The familiar light filled the girls' bedroom aboard Marucho's family aircraft. As the light cleared, the blond Battler remained standing in the centre of the room. Without a word, he sat down on the edge of Alice's bed with a flop and gazed at the far edge of the wall, an empty look on his face behind the mask.

He couldn't deny it, Naga's hate filled words had shaken him to the core of his being, just as much as they had saddened him greatly.

-You are only a spirit created from the negative energy of the Silent Core-

Masquerade's fists clenched to a point at which his fingerless gloves nearly tore. "No, I'm much more than that..." He hissed though gritting teeth. He wasn't someone who ever showed emotions besides rage and arrogance, so to have something like that said, seemed to have suddenly brought up a foreign effect in him.

Something he hated.

He stood up abruptly, ignoring his tired muscles' protests as he growled, "I'll show that overgrown lizard."

The next moment he disappeared in a flash of light.

...

On the other side of the world...

Hydranoid was currently watching with a bemused expression on his toy face as Clara tried desperately to colour in a big dragon from her colouring book. He had no idea that a few moments ago, his master was being threatened by their almighty leader, Naga. He was too happy care though as he was enjoying himself with his new human acquaintance.

"Hey look Hydranoid!" Clara chirped happily, holding up her partially coloured drawing. Hydranoid waddled forward to get a better look at the picture at the picture which caused him to chuckle lightly.

Clara had obviously tried to match his colour scheme as he took note of how he'd coloured the dragon black, purple and red. Clara had tried hard to stay in the lines but Hydranoid noticed the spots where she'd coloured over them.

"It's very nice Clara." He replied as he turned to her and nodded in approval. He meant that too as he could tell that the girl tried really hard to impress him.

Clara beamed.

"Yay! I knew you'd like it Hydranoid!" Clara chirped before falling into a fit of giggles, she hugged the picture, squeezing it up to her chest as she began to spin around in circles out of shear happiness. "After the doctor and mommy come back with the check –up results I'll go hang it up on the kitchen wall!"

She paused in her twirling and her eyes seemed to widened even larger, "And then when Cousin Katie comes I can show it to her!"

Hydranoid bobbed his head. "That's the second time you've mentioned your cousin, is she a battler?"

"Yes, she-"

Clara was cut off as the sound of the door to Doctor O Brien's office opened. Hydranoid watched as Clara's mother came out of the doctor's office and immediately sensed that something was off. He noticed how the woman's gaze dropped to the floor before noticing the dried tear stains on her face. She looked up to Clara, eyes red and puffy as if she had been crying all day.

Like Hydranoid, Clara was able to sense that something was off with her mother so she carefully placed the picture on the table besides Hydranoid before walking over to her mother.

"Mama?" Clara muttered as she wrapped her little arms around her mother's waist. "Mama, is something wrong?"

Her mother dropped her gaze yet again to look down at her daughter. She found herself biting back a sob at her daughter's innocent face.

"Oh Clara.." whispered the woman, dropping down to one knee. She hugged her little girl, clinging to her like a lifeline. "Oh my precious little girl."

Clara blinked slowly, "Mama, mama, what's wrong?"

Hydranoid couldn't shake the feeling that something horrible was happening as he watched tears fall from the older woman's face. Time had seemed to take a leave of absence as a foreboding came with the woman's next words.

"I'm sorry sweetie but you'll have to stay here for awhile..."

...

**And we're done for the day, ain't got much to say except thanks for reading and remember to review!**

**I'm serious though review! Or I'll get Sky Lord to eat you.**

**Sky Lord: **I didn't eat them for Jet, so what makes you think I'll eat them for you? Get Hydranoid to do it.

**Hydranoid: **Again with that! Why you lazy little mother-

**Aero: **Woah! Rated T Hydranoid! Man does this feel like some messed up kind of déjà vu...

**Anyway, Aero Out.**


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